{"id":345,"date":"2011-11-07T14:00:37","date_gmt":"2011-11-07T21:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aveconsulting.com\/blog\/?p=345"},"modified":"2017-11-03T16:54:13","modified_gmt":"2017-11-03T23:54:13","slug":"netflix-price-increases-a-social-media-case-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/aveconsulting.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/07\/netflix-price-increases-a-social-media-case-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix Price Increases: A Social Media Case Study"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In my last post, I examined how Netflix\u2019s communication style<\/a> contributed to the problems they\u2019ve been struggling with since July. In this post, I\u2019ll cover a few of the social media blunders Netflix committed throughout this communication spiral.<\/p>\n

I firmly believe rules are meant to be broken. But there are some rules\u2014even in the ever-changing social media world\u2014that you\u2019re better off following or being really sure you understand the repercussions if you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

In Netflix\u2019s case, they committed two ginormous no-nos after announcing their new pricing on July 12<\/a>: saying nothing and deleting posts.<\/p>\n

No-No # 1: Saying NOTHING When the Doo-Doo Hits the Fan<\/h2>\n

Forty-eight hours after announcing the pricing changes on Facebook, Netflix had yet to respond to the 65,000+ people who commented on their wall in the first two days. And followers noticed as well, and were still voicing their opinion seven days later.<\/p>\n

Netflix\u2019s silence was equally deafening on their blog.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

No-No # 2: Deleting Wall Posts<\/h2>\n

There have been many blog posts since the pricing announcement that Netflix was removing followers\u2019 comments from their Facebook wall. And there were even more comments on their wall complaining about earlier comments being removed. According to a post on MSNBC\u2019s Technolog, Steve Swasey, vice president of corporate communications at Netflix, says the company wasn\u2019t deleting comments.<\/p>\n

If they were, shame on them\u2014unless the ones they deleted had profanity, etc. If they weren\u2019t, then why not speak up? Address the accusation. Say something. And while at it, address the entire pricing situation (see no-no # 1 above).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

An Extra No-No: Not Allowing Commenting on Blog Posts<\/h2>\n

While doing research for this post, I was spending time on Netflix\u2019s blog and noticed an odd occurrence. There are no comments for any of the posts between July 27 and October 30 (except one on October 4); nor does there appear to be anyway to comment on them either. If you access the July 27 post<\/a> or any others before then, an abundance of comments display, with a \u201cPost a Comment\u201d link at the bottom\u2014same for the September 27 post<\/a>. However, no such link is included on any other posts since July 27, including the September 18 apology<\/a> and the post on DVDs staying at Netflix.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The removal of commenting on the blog could be a technical glitch, but it\u2019s an odd one if it is. I explored a few of the recent posts that had comments in more depth. And the one on October 4 (\u201cPower, Deception and Lies Plus Other Good Stuff\u201d) shows that comments have been disabled for this post by a blog administrator.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>So, it looks like Netflix has decided not to allow commenting. As Julia Roberts said in Pretty Woman, \u201cBig mistake. Big. Huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Social media is two-way communication. If you don\u2019t want a dialogue and only want to push information out to the masses, stay away from social media. Period. If you don\u2019t, you\u2019ll likely find yourself in a Netflix-like situation at some point.<\/p>\n

Better Choices to Make If You Find Yourself in Netflix\u2019s Position<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Have a plan.<\/strong> Before announcing anything big, have a plan for handling possible negative comments, so you can respond.<\/li>\n
  2. Respond immediately. <\/strong>Even if you don\u2019t have a plan, be prepared to respond quickly with something\u2014even if it\u2019s just to say, \u201cWe hear you, and we\u2019re working on a solution.\u201d Your top priority for the next however many hours it takes should then be writing an apology and explanation, developing a plan for monitoring and managing the communication, and working out alternatives to what you announced, if that\u2019s an option.<\/li>\n
  3. Don\u2019t act as if the backlash isn\u2019t happening. <\/strong>The ostrich approach never works.<\/li>\n
  4. Don\u2019t delete. Don\u2019t delete. Don\u2019t delete. <\/strong>Did I mention you shouldn\u2019t delete negative comments, unless inappropriate, like fowl language. In that instance, make sure you\u2019re clear about why\u2014that it\u2019s not the negative comment, it\u2019s the choice of words used that resulted in the removal.<\/li>\n
  5. Avoid any additional big changes\/announcements <\/strong>until you address the current problem.<\/li>\n
  6. Keep commenting enabled <\/strong>even when the comments are unpleasant.<\/li>\n
  7. Monitor all the time and have staff on hand to respond.<\/strong> If you\u2019re as well known as Netflix with 2,000,000+ people (roughly 1.5M in July) liking your Facebook page, you can\u2019t afford to not monitor the social media conversation constantly\u2014and respond regularly.<\/li>\n
  8. Use your social media channels to capture the pulse of your customers before making big changes. <\/strong>Poll people. Find people with whom you can test the waters. Employ crowdsourcing<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Before closing this post, I should note that not all the comments on Netflix\u2019s Facebook page are disparaging. There are some who would say the complainers are just loud but not the majority.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    But with social media, it doesn\u2019t really matter if the naysayers are in the minority. It can still tarnish your image and damage your relationship with customers\u2014both of which take time to rebuild.<\/p>\n

    Will Netflix come out of this? I think they will, but they have a long road ahead of them to repair the damage that\u2019s been done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In my last post, I examined how Netflix\u2019s communication style contributed to the problems they\u2019ve been struggling with since July. In this post, I\u2019ll cover a few of the social media blunders Netflix committed throughout this communication spiral. I firmly … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[42,34,32,15],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/aveconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/aveconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/aveconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aveconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aveconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/aveconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":407,"href":"http:\/\/aveconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions\/407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/aveconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aveconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aveconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}